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Switch Connect Question

helpdesk
Level 1
Level 1

I'm in the process of redesigning the network and had a question. We just purchased a catalyst 3560g-ts which we are going to use for VLAN routing. Plugged into it we have four 24 port gigabit L2 switches by Adtran. One of those is used for all the servers, the other three are all workstations. Most of the servers will be in a seperate VLAN but there will be about three that are in the same VLAN as some of the workstations. My question is, will I get the best performance if I connect the three workstations switches into the server switch by seperate links as well as into the Cisco L3 switch? Or would it be better to not plug the workstation switches into the server switch and let the Cisco handle that traffic between them?

1 Accepted Solution

Accepted Solutions

Richard Burts
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame

If you connect the three workstation switches into the server switch as well as into the L3 switch then you are creating loops in the topology. STP will detect the loops and put some ports into blocking mode. If the port in blocking mode is the workstation to server connection then you have no improvement. And if the port in blocking mode is the workstation to L3 connection then you have just decreased the efficiency of the inter vlan routing.

My advice is to not connect the workstation switches to the server switch.

HTH

Rick

HTH

Rick

View solution in original post

2 Replies 2

Richard Burts
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame

If you connect the three workstation switches into the server switch as well as into the L3 switch then you are creating loops in the topology. STP will detect the loops and put some ports into blocking mode. If the port in blocking mode is the workstation to server connection then you have no improvement. And if the port in blocking mode is the workstation to L3 connection then you have just decreased the efficiency of the inter vlan routing.

My advice is to not connect the workstation switches to the server switch.

HTH

Rick

HTH

Rick

I am glad that my answer was helpful in resolving your question. Thank you for using the rating system to indicate that your question was resolved (and thanks for the rating). It makes the forum more useful when people can read a question and can know that they will read answers that resolved the question.

The forum is a very effective place to clarify concepts. I encourage you to continue your participation in the forum.

HTH

Rick

HTH

Rick
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